Heart of Gold
by spoodle monkey
Summary: Few people knew Booster had a heart of Gold; few people also knew how much he truly missed Beetle. Boostle slash. Spoilers for Booster Gold volume 1 and 2


Disclaimer: Nope, if I owned, Ted wouldnt be dead now would he????

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There were a lot of people that knew Booster Gold was a joke, a disgrace to heroes all around. The same people that knew this knew that he was a hero for the fame and the money; not to mention the women. They also knew that Blue Beetle, when he had been alive, had been Booster Gold's partner in crime, and had been nearly as insufferable at the Gold hero.

These same people had been the ones who had known about Superboys funeral, but not about the much smaller funeral for Blue Beetle.

Batman had been one of those people. One of the people who saw Blue and Gold's antics and rolled their eyes or wondered aloud how anyone like with so little regard for others could have made it into the Justice League.

He'd been wrong. Ted Kord had been a genius and one of the greatest heroes he had ever known. Booster had a heart of gold; he also hadn't been the same since his friend's death.

There had been rumors, back when they had all been living in the embassy, about Blue and Gold. He hadn't paid them much attention, so long as the job got done and innocent people were saved, what did he care if they were sleeping together?

Now he sees what the others had been missing. Booster and Beetle hadn't been sleeping together- he's almost positive they hadn't even been together. He knows this because sometimes, when Booster thinks no one is looking, he lets the mask fall. His shoulders sag and the bruises under his eyes are even more prominent. He looks like he's lost a lot more than his best friend.

Booster Gold had been in love with Blue Beetle.

Its obvious when one looks for it, but everyone else had been so preoccupied with the act they put up to look any further; to really see.

Approximately three people knew that Booster Gold was traveling through time.

Two of them knew what Booster had been willing to sacrifice to save Ted Kord. He thinks he may be the only one that knows the reasons why.

He's offered to work with Booster, help him, and this is how he meets Rip Hunter and Michelle Carter.

He knows right away that Michelle has no idea what Ted Kord meant to her brother; he sees it in the way she pulls him aside and asks questions about Maxwell Lord, things her brother was apparently reluctant to tell her.

Rip Hunter is another mystery completely. There's something _off_ in the way he watches the Carters. It's fond and something else he cannot place. Beetle is only mentioned twice when Hunter is around, but something passes across the mans face at the mention of the deceased hero both times. So he does what every good detective does- he looks for clues.

Hunter hides himself well, very well- but no one has been able to successfully hide themselves from the Batman forever so it's only a matter of time before he finds something.

Batman grabs a stray hair one day, tucks it into his cape and waits patiently until he can escape back to the Bat cave unnoticed. By now Booster Gold has figured out how to get into the cave without setting off any alarms, so it's only a matter of time before the other hero shows up. He needs to test his theory before he says anything.

He starts an analysis on the hair, cross referencing it with every DNA profile he has on file and settles in to wait- it's going to be a long night. Robin takes over patrol for him on the promise of a trip to Africa. He knows Tim is looking into magic and resurrection spells and wonders briefly if the future would be changed for the worse if Booster were to save Superboy, then pushes the thought aside for later when he can run a probability program.

It's a little after four in the morning when the computer finally beeps, signaling the end of the search. He shifts, feeling pins and needles where parts of his body have fallen asleep, something he rarely allows to happen and opens the file.

He's not as surprised by the initial result as he should have been.

_Carter, Michael_ flashes across the screen as the first match. Now he understands the fond look on Hunter's face; he's with his family.

Then he opens the second file.

It's more surprising to say the least.

Rip is a time traveler, and if the file is correct, the man hasn't even been born yet. But he will be, and it will be to two fathers. Michael Carter and Ted Kord.

He can see the resemblance between the pictures of the two men on the screen and the time traveler he had spoken with the previous day. This discovery is incredibly important, but he cannot tell Booster; at least not yet. Because what this means, is that there is hope.

The entrance to the cave opens and Booster floats in, trying and failing to look cheerful; Batman quickly hides the file.

"Hey Bats, I had some ideas I wanted to run by you and I figured since you never sleep…" Booster trails off as he lands, a bundle of energy as he reaches for the nearest object and twirls it around in his hands.

"Booster…" He begins, and then decides not to snap at him about playing with a weapon he confiscated from the Joker because he owes him for the secret he is planning on keeping until the time is right. "There is a way to save Ted." He says instead, waiting until he has the heroes' full attention. "You just haven't found it yet."

Booster eyes him as though trying to figure out what he knows but eventually gives up because no one can crack the Batman, except the Flash that one time.

"I know there is." Booster replies.

There were a lot of people who believed Booster Gold to be over confident, over bearing and a narcissist. They didn't know him. And no one knew him as well as Ted Kord had.

The confidence that the gold hero gives off is not fake or over bearing, it just is.

Batman will help him and maybe one day tell him what he has discovered, but in the mean time, they have a friend to save.


End file.
